Merchandising Is More Than Just a Visual Experience

When you think of merchandising, you usually think of sight: the first colors that catch your eye, strategically placed literature displays, and visual aids. But there are many other things you can use to draw a consumer in.

We will touch each of these topics in the following.

Sound As a Sensory Tool

The second thing that catches the consumer’s eye is sound. The moment they enter a business, you have brought them into your universe. Doing this properly requires some thought as to what type of ambiance you are trying to provide. This can range from a quiet atmosphere geared toward baby boomers say, or music and energy filled atmosphere made to excite your consumers the moment they enter. Music can help you achieve these specific types of responses.

Martin Lindstrom, who wrote a book about sensory branding (Brand Sense: Sensory Secrets Behind the Stuff We Buy), describes this very method of drawing a consumer. He argues that it is never enough to present your brand or product visually. Instead, you need to power them up so that they can deliver a full emotional and sensory experience.

Feel and Touch

We bypass the one thing that everyone can share – the ability to feel and touch. It’s been shown that putting certain products in a consumer’s sight line makes them far more likely to purchase the item. The more time they have it in their hands, the more likely they are to buy.

It can be difficult to fully utilize all the tools at your disposal to create a perfect multi-sensory experience. There are, in fact, two different ways to fully gauge this experience: literally and figuratively. Again, this enables them to physically touch even surfaces of your establishment, to feel textures on every surface. These factors all set a literal tone for your store or brand.

You can tell a consumer if your entablement is meant to be a one-on-one experience or more of a collective feel. You can do this by the placement of shelves, chairs, tables, and room division. These are all easy ways to give your consumer a figurative feel of your brand.

Smell

There is also a less obvious tool at your disposal — smell. A study in the Journal of Business Research states that smell can have a very strong tie to memory.

You can use your HVAC system and put actual scents into the air, as a way of waking unconscious memory in your consumer.

In conclusion, when you are trying to define your branding in your physical location, you have an endless array of tools you can use to appeal to consumers senses and affect their purchasing decisions.

About The Author

Alene Hayne is a professional writer with over 15 years of experience. She's been covering the educational news niche since she was in high school. EggBlog is her first major project: she wants to make a difference in the overcrowded, and often boring, news world of the big corporations.